Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BONUS: Pittsburgh Penguins fire Ron Hextall, Brian Burke, and Chris Pryor! What's next?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, victory has arrived. The Penguins cut bait with Ron Hextall, Chris Pryor, and Brian Burke on Friday around 11 a.m. For today's special little edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I'm going to give my thoughts on those moves. Plus, how I came away pretty impressed with Fenway Sports Group with their first media availability since they bought the team a couple of years ago. And some candidates that I would have if I were that, that's all coming up right. after this drop. You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to this special edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes, your host. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, Eleanor Sopenguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list in the day. We're freeing it available on all platforms.

Starting point is 00:01:10 This will be about 10, 12, 15 minutes somewhere around there. a little special edition of the show. And Penguins, you know, I alluded to this on Thursday. I think everyone around the, you know, and the Penguins media was alluding to this, that Friday was probably going to be a big day. And sure enough, it was the Penguins. Parted Ways with Ron Hextall, Brian Burke,

Starting point is 00:01:31 and Chris Pryor on Friday morning, right around 11 a.m. And the search for a new GM and just the hockey operations department will begin right away. This was a long time coming. you and you have a playoff streak that is broken especially 16 straight years the longest active streak in north american sports people are going to pay the price that is how this works it is a result oriented business you cannot just go oh we miss the playoff ones we're going to keep the same

Starting point is 00:02:01 people in place no the pittsworth penguins have sky high expectations and you saw that today these guys were only on the job for a little over two years and boom they are gone And I listened, actually I watched that press conference today with Kevin Acklin and Dave Beeston. He is the alternate governor, basically the liaison that Tom Warner assigned to the team. He's based in Boston, but he even admitted during the press conference that he's been spending a lot of time here around the Penguins, just following them and just reporting back to Tom and the higher-ups of Fenway. And I came away very impressed with what he had to say. You know, they, for the next GM in the president of hockey operations,

Starting point is 00:02:46 they said they want someone slash, you know, people if they go with president of hockey ops in the GM, they want people that are forward thinkers. They're proactive. Definitely leads me to believe that they are leaning towards someone who has more in the mind of analytics. Elliot Freeman mentioned that on the 32 thoughts podcast today, that, you know, the Penguins are really going to be building their analytics department over these next several months. he thinks they have a lot of hires coming with that.

Starting point is 00:03:11 And he also heard that Fenway just was really not happy with the roster decisions that were made over the last year when it comes to surrounding the core of Cindy Crosby, beginning Malcon and Chris and Tang. And that's another one of the main reasons why they decided to part ways with Hextall, Burke, and Pryor. But I just, I really liked, you know, what Beeston had to say. You know, he seems like, this will sound a little weird to say, man.

Starting point is 00:03:34 I think he has a good head on his shoulders. It's obviously that he has been watching this team all season. And yes, the Fenway people are real. But so he was asked about the timeline to hiring a new GM. He said, we want to do it as soon as possible without rushing. We want to get the right person in place. He also did say that they're not ruling out people from outside the hockey world. You know, could it be like a Theo Epstein and baseball?

Starting point is 00:04:00 You know, I would say it's more unlikely that they do that, but they're not ruling it out. That's for sure. We'll touch on some more candidates a little. later on in this video. I liked his answer on Sydney Grozegro, where he said, yeah, we have no plans to have him play in another uniform. His contract is up in a couple of years. And I also really like what he had to say about Mario Lemieux. He even said, you know, he's all, he's not only welcomed, but he's wanted back whenever he wants. I expect that will be the case moving forward, working with him and getting to know him throughout the sponsor process has been a special gift

Starting point is 00:04:32 for me. He is incredible. There's a lot of rumors, speculation about Mario. and how there's maybe like a rift between him and the new owners. I don't really know anything about that, to be honest. I don't know how many people truly know about it. But they did confirm that Mario spoke to Tom Warner and the rest of the FSG owners this morning. So he is very, you know, aware of what is going on. But, you know, it sounds like in terms of the search,

Starting point is 00:05:00 it's going to take a little bit longer than the last one. Remember, when Jim Rutherford resigned a couple of years ago, they filled that job very quickly and I mean very quickly now this was this was during the season so you you had to make quick because the deadline was coming up and all that stuff but they filled that job in two weeks you know they even said they expect this to go a lot longer than two weeks because I'm sure they're going to be interviewing some candidates who are on playoff teams right now one of which is Kyle Dubas which we'll get to in just a second but they seem like this is going to they They made it sound like it's going to be a very thorough process.

Starting point is 00:05:37 They're going to interview a lot of people. They want to make sure they get this right. And, you know, this is a big time for the penguins. You know, Cindy and Crosby's not getting any younger. Have any Malkins the same? Crystal Tang is the same. You need someone in here who can really milk out the best hockey they have left before, you know, they have a little bit of a downward trajectory

Starting point is 00:06:00 towards the final, you know, few years of their careers. And I'm sure they're well aware of that. You know, people are maybe speculating, are they going to use the R word rebuild, of course? No, they did not do that. You know, they made it very clear in the press release and in the press conference today that they are in it to win it. They want to compete for Stanley Cubs and they want to have this team be back in the playoffs as soon as next season. And that's the right call. Now, people can say what they want, but this team is not heading to a rebuild when the third.

Starting point is 00:06:34 Kenny Malkin and Cindy Crosby just played 82 games and they both averaged over a point. Sidney Crosby was seven points away from 100. F. Kenny Malkin was only a few points away from 90. Chris Luton, still playing at a decent high level as well. I think he's going to be even better next year. Once, you know, he even said on Thursday he wants to declense a little bit, get away for a little bit. I think once he does that, I think he's going to be in for an even bigger year, too. So as long as they're playing at a high level, you can't rebuild.

Starting point is 00:07:03 That would be the wrong move. And, you know, they want someone to come in here and continue to try to get them Stanley Cups. So I'm really excited about that. You know, again, I was just really content with what they said, you know, Beeston's answers were, you know, pretty specific. You know, he was asked about Mike Sullivan. He said, you know, he kind of danced around the question a little bit. But, you know, he said that he's one of the top coaches in the league, but his fate will be up to the new general manager. I think he's coming back.

Starting point is 00:07:34 If he wasn't fired today, and I know people say, like, you know, Hunter, what about happened with Dan Biosma? Because, remember, when Ray Shera was dismissed, Biosma was still the head coach until Rutherford came in and dismissed him. I don't think that's going to happen here because, well, Mike Sullivan has been here a lot longer,

Starting point is 00:07:50 and I think he's a much better coach than Dan Biosma was. And I think the Penguins at that time were just in a different period because, you know, the core was, no, they're still obviously awesome now. But they were at the peak years right that time. So I think it was a little bit different if you ask me. But yeah, I mean, this was a big day for the organization.

Starting point is 00:08:13 This is going to be a job that I think has a lot of interest. I mean, at the end of the day, there's only 32 of these around the league. There's going to be a lot of people that throw their hat into these. And while we just get to some of my short list candidates that I would have, I said it on my Thursday episode. Eric Tolski is my first call. I think he's done a tremendous job with Carolina. He's very analytically inclined, very forward thinking, which is what Fenway wants.

Starting point is 00:08:37 I was listening to Chris Johnston's podcast day, and he made the point that the Penguins may not go after a GM who has, a person, excuse me, who has been a GM before. They may go after someone who is like an assistant, something like that, maybe even outside of hockey. And I found that intriguing. And I think, you know, the first, again, that first thing that pops into my head was, Eric Tolski. Again, he's Don Waddell's white-hand man down in Carolina. I think that would be a great hire.

Starting point is 00:09:06 San Ventura, he was obviously with the Penguins for a number of years before he left for the Buffalo Sabers job a couple years ago. I will still say that that was a very costly move. The Penguins, they miss him a lot. And I think he's going to make,

Starting point is 00:09:21 if he doesn't get this job with the Penguins, even though I think he should be a top candidate, I think he's going to make a very good GM one day. I do think he's going to be in that position. I'll also throw Mike Gillis' name in there. Some people may not like that, but remember, he was the candidate that had that whole written plan

Starting point is 00:09:37 that he submitted, I think, to Mario Ron Burke and David Morehouse when the job came open a couple of years ago. And I believe he did get an interview. I don't know if he was one of the short list finalists. But he definitely seems like he's forward thinking. He's been out of, you know, the game a little bit in terms of being a GM. So it'd be a little bit of a risky hire. But, you know, he definitely seems like someone who I think,

Starting point is 00:09:58 Fenway could go after. You're going to hear a lot of smoke about Kyle Dubus. His contract is up after this year. It really all depends on what happens with the leaves. Do they have an early exit? That's the big thing. They haven't won a series and so forth. They're going up against the Tampa Lightning. That's going to be really interesting to me. I do think the penguins are going to throw a good chunk of money at him if they can get him in for an interview or a couple interviews, I should say. I think it was Mark Madden. That really started that on Thursday morning before, I got a couple of texts and a couple other people saying, like, yep, just watch out for this. Then Elliot Friedman confirmed it on 32 thoughts and on the Jeff Merrick show that there's just going to be a lot of smoke surrounding him.

Starting point is 00:10:38 But he expects do this to stay with Toronto. So we'll have to see when it comes to that. A couple outside of other candidates. Jason Carmanos, you know, he was here with Jim Rutherford. He was also very big in the analytics. He ran the analytics department when he was here under Rutherford. I could definitely see him. And then I'll also say

Starting point is 00:11:00 Megan Chica, John Chica's sister. You know, she's done a lot of good work around the league. She did a lot of the draft coverage last year on ESPN, I believe. She's also very knowledgeable. I think you could see Kevin Weeks in there. He, I believe, he had an interview or two in the last cycle, and he's been really gunning for some of those GM jobs. Those are just a few of the candidates.

Starting point is 00:11:26 off the top of my head. I'm sure they're going to interview a few other people, maybe Michael Fuda. That makes sense. I believe there's an executive from the Dallas Stars as I saw mentioned today from a couple of people. He makes sense too. Some people throw Jason Bottero and Ray Schro at me.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Hard pass. I just, Shiro, his drafting is not bad. I'll give him bad, but I don't really think he did any good work towards the late stages of his tenure here when he, you know, the Ross City. The bottom six was dreadful under him.

Starting point is 00:11:54 Jason Bottero, I wasn't super impressed with his tenure in Buffalo. He had some decent moves, but he also had some moves that were not so good. I would rather go with someone who is a little more forward-thinking than him. And he is pretty forward-thinking, but I would still go for someone even better than him. I think is what I'm trying to say. But that wraps up this small little episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. This was a day that was a long time coming for this organization,

Starting point is 00:12:23 but one that they badly needed to have. And this is going to be a summer of a lot of change with this organization, both on and off the I, especially with these hires, and we'll have to see how many changes are made, how many roster moves are made to reposition this team to go make another Stanley Cup run for next season. Again, as for Mike Sullivan, as I alluded to earlier, I would expect him to be back. I know his fate's going to be in the new GM's hand.

Starting point is 00:12:47 But if you're asking me, I don't think he's going to be let go. I think he should be brought back on a much shorter leash with new assistance. for next season. That's what I'll say on that because, you know, his work was definitely not that good this season. I went out in him a lot more than I usually have because his roster decisions were piss poor, but I think he deserves at least one more shot with a more competent roster and a partnership with the GM who I think shares his philosophy because I just don't get the sense that he, Brian Burke and Ron Hexel ever got along in terms of team building, if you ask me. But that will do it for this one. I really appreciate all of you.

Starting point is 00:13:25 listening slash watching and i'll be back on monday as we really kick off the all season content for the show again have a great weekend i'll talk to you all then

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BONUS: Pittsburgh Penguins fire Ron Hextall, Brian Burke, and Chris Pryor! What's next?

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